Monday Morning Media Minute

Joe the Plumber and Colin the General both made political splashes during the past week.

When all’s said and done, the general’s a better spokesperson for his candidate than the plumber because his message is more consistent with the messages of his candidate.

Just because of who he is, Powell’s endorsement supports Obama on key themes of the campaign — that he’s ready to be commander-in-chief and that he isn’t a terrorist or a pal of terrorists.  Joe the Plumber’s credentials supporting the idea that McCain’s tax plan helps small businesses and Obama’s doesn’t is a little more suspect because Joe the Plumber’s identity is more suspect.

And every reason Powell gave for endorsing Obama reinforced one of Obama’s campaign messages.  Joe the Plumber wasn’t as clearly on message for McCain.

Politics aside, the general and the plumber are good examples of the strengths and weaknesses of third-party advocates.

The benefits of using third-party advocates is well known to PR professionals.  But they can be hard to keep on message — your message, at least — because they have own messages, their own identity and their own strengths and weaknesses.

So, use third-party advocates when you can.  But make sure they’ll support your message, not interfere with it.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

It’s good to have friends who can help tell your story and support your case.

Eliot Spitzer learned that lesson the hard way: He didn’t have any when he needed them.

Would Spitzer have kept his job if he had more political friends? Hard to say. But he would have had a better chance of surviving or, at least, leaving office with more of his dignity intact – and a better chance of making a comeback someday.

The lesson for the rest of us? Make friends, even when you’re in a strong position. If you make friends when you don’t need them, they’re more likely to help you when you do. And failing to make friends because you don’t think you need them means the smallest stumble can be fatal.

One good thing about having friends is that, often, they can tell your story or advocate your case in ways you can’t. But pay attention to what they’re saying on your behalf.

Several of the presidential candidates have learned that lesson during the campaign. Nearly all of them have experienced friends or spouses saying things that hurt or embarrassed them.

Last week’s incident with Geraldine Ferraro saying Barack Obama “would not have made it this far if he was a white man” is particularly intriguing. It’s either a good example of using a third-party to deliver a message you can’t deliver on your own or a case of a friend doing damage by speaking out of turn.

Was Ferraro acting with the approval or even at the suggestion of the Clinton campaign to say out loud what many blue collar white voters in Pennsylvania feel? Was the Clinton campaign using her to play a race card Hillary couldn’t do on her own?

Or did Ferraro step out of line and inadvertently embarrass her candidate? If so, she certainly wasn’t in any hurry to stop the damage. She kept the story alive at least one day longer than it would have lasted on its own by continuing to defend her comment during repeated TV appearances even after Clinton had “repudiated” it and Ferraro had resigned from Clinton’s Finance Committee.

Either Clinton was making use of Ferraro in a very calculated and cynical way to play a race card she couldn’t do on her own or Ferraro was freelancing in a way that was simply out of bounds for a third-party advocate. Either way, what she did is a good example of the power and limits of using third-party advocates. If they stay on message, they can be very useful; if they get off message, they can do a lot of damage.

Make as many friends as you can. Use them, when appropriate, to help tell your story. But pay attention to what they say.

That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook. My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute. To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often. The eBooks come as PDF files. You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

O-O. Barack Obama got the mother of all endorsements over the weekend when Oprah showed up in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to campaign with her favorite presidential candidate.

Oprah announced her support for Obama some time ago, of course. But her appearance at her first campaign events still drew huge crowds and media coverage.

Most of us don’t have friends of Oprah’s stature we can call for support in telling whatever story we’re pitching to reporters. But it still helps to have friends. And there are times when they can tell your story better than you can – especially if they don’t have as much at stake as you do. It’s a matter of credibility.

Okay, you already know that. But are you doing it? When’s the last time you used third-party advocates to help tell your story?

That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?